"An unfavourable environment continues to hold back results in the sector," it said in a statement.

In 2015, watch exports recorded their first full-year decline since 2009, contracting by 3.3 per cent with weakening Hong Kong demand already the main factor.

Hong Kong, which saw its 12th consecutive month of demand downturn in January, and the United States, where Swiss watch sales fell for the fifth straight month, are the two main markets for Switzerland's time piece exports.